Search for missing MH370 may be called off soon

Crew aboard the Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield move the U.S. Navy's Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle into position for deployment in the southern Indian Ocean to look for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 (Reuters / HO) / Reuters

Australia says the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may soon be called off, as no trace of the aircraft has been found since it disappeared over the Indian Ocean a year ago this week.

"We clearly cannot
keep searching forever, but we want to do everything that's
reasonably possible to locate the aircraft," Australian
Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Warren Truss told
Reuters in an interview.

He added that discussions are underway between Australia, China,
and Malaysia on whether to call off the search for the missing
Boeing 777 in the coming weeks.

The passenger jet carrying 239 people went missing on March 8,
2014, shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to
Beijing. Most of those on board were Chinese and Malaysian
nationals. Investigators believe the aircraft crashed into the
Indian Ocean after flying thousands of miles off course.

Truss said a decision will have to be taken soon on whether to
expand the search into the vast 1.1 million sq km area around the
primary search zone if
nothing has been found.

Already the most expensive of its kind, the search operation has
cost Australia and Malaysia over US$40 million. Truss warned that
continuing the hunt for the missing aircraft will be impossible
without more international help.

"We put in the amount of money that we believed was necessary
to do this job well and thoroughly with the best available
equipment," he said. "We have to make other decisions,
then, about how long the search should continue."

Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport
Safety Bureau, told Reuters that he remains confident that the
plane will be found in the remainder of the so-called
"priority search area.”

However, the head of the body leading the search has warned that
costs could be a prohibiting factor to widening the hunt for the
missing aircraft.